Rosetta VR: Close up view and Solar System model!

So I've spent a few hours playing with the Google Cardboard Virtual Reality app of the Rosetta mission. I've pencilled out what I want in the app (though this will inevitably change!) and had a go at the three basic parts of the app I want.

The first part of the app is a zoomed out view of comet 67P. Using the VR headset you can move your head around to look around the comet. You'll notice now that the images appear to have two mirrored copies of each other side by side. In fact, they are slightly offset from each other and provide the stereoscopic view needed to create the 3D view with the VR headsets. I added in lighting and a model of the Sun, meaning you can see what 67P looks like on the bright and dark side. There's also a model of Rosetta orbiting the comet, but it's a bit to small to see in these images.

Next up is a zoomed in view of the comet. I have a few ideas of what I'd like to have on this part, but I'm still fleshing out the idea. In the mean time, I'm enjoying getting views of the close up of the comet!

Finally I've made a model of the solar system. The hope is that in the end I will have a 3D model of the solar system, showing the journey of Rosetta since it's launch. I managed to find accurate positions of the planets from this really useful NADA site (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi). I can also get the Rosetta positions which is great, but I need to do some work on loading arrays with c#.

I saw Brian May posted today a stereoscopic image he helped make of comet 67P. It's amazing, but I wonder what he would think of my 3D VR model!

Rosetta Jet STEREO enhanced ! Animation is here http://t.co/1zDRKDltkd @ESA_Rosetta @mggtTaylor @joelwmparker Bri pic.twitter.com/Mz3jFzDYhq

— Dr. Brian May (@DrBrianMay) August 30, 2015

Rosetta and Comet 67P in Virtual Reality!

So, I recently posted that I co-made a couple of virtual reality apps for phones, that you can check out using the cheap Google Cardboard headsets. I've been in a bit of a high since making and releasing these and have been trying to think what I'd like to do next.

I went to a great talk the other night about the recent European Space Agency Rosetta mission, which landed a probe on a comet. There are loads of amazing image of the comet named 67P and of Rosetta, but they don't really show off the scale or the beauty of the comet. So I suddenly had the idea of making a VR Google Cardboard app to show off the comet in it's full 3D glory! Partly to practice my skills at making apps, partly to use for outreach, but mainly because I want to see it.

Luckily models of comet 67P and Rosetta already exist, which makes my life a lot easier. I was worried I would have to make them myself, which would be a pain, but the European Space Agency have actually already done the hard work.

So I quickly put them in to a scene, whacked a temporary Sun in the background and added an image of the Milky Way to the overall background and here are the results!

This is what I managed after half an hour of playing this morning, but there's a long way to go before I make a really great app from the idea. Still, it's a good start. So, I'm going to give blogging about the project a go, in case people are interested in what I've done. So come back and check out my blog to see how I'm getting along!